A Portrait of America's First Family
by karivalentina
Summary: Set two years after Fitz's second term as president. Fitz and Olivia living their happily ever after. All fluffiness.


A Portrait of America's First Family.

**A/N:** _This story takes place 2 years after the end of Fitz' second term as president. Even though technically he's not in office, they're still America's first family in the hearts of the people. Enjoy!_

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><p>Christmas time is a time of wonder, happiness and absolute madness filled with family reunions, end of the year parties and frantic shopping for the perfect gift for. No wonder for many, it's a true double whammy: the happiest time of the year is by the same token the most stressful time of the year.<p>

The Grant family was no exception. Today, during the first winter storm of the season, the first family had their annual family portraits scheduled for the third time in less than three weeks. Twice this year, unexpected circumstances had forced them to re-schedule. The first time, Olivia had faced a bout of morning sickness and the second time, Teddy had come down with a nasty case of the not so common cold.

While Fitz and the children greeted the photographers downstairs in the family room, Olivia studied herself in front of the free standing mirror just a few steps from the the balcony that overlooked the orchards of their Vermont home. The black and white dress she had selected was simple yet elegant: A line cut, tea length, empire waistline and intricate embroidery design.

She wore natural makeup and loose curls framed her face in well defined cascades.

As a final touch, she smoothed her dress, and fingered her Japanese Akoya pearl necklace ( a present from Fitz) with a smile.

When Olivia came downstairs to their main family room, she found Fitz relaxed and making small talk with the photographers. He looked so perfectly relaxed clad in his dark green cable knit sweater, holding their little ten month old daughter in his arms and sitting back in his favorite chair. Behind him, a cozy fireplace decorated with Christmas stockings served as a perfect backdrop.

Olivia wished she could feel as relaxed. Yet suddenly she couldn't.

She was struck by the realization that more than anything, she wanted this Christmas, Isabella's first Christmas to become a happy memory forevermore.

_ 'Stop it, Olivia, stop trying to be perfect and relax, for heaven's sake!'_ she wordlessly chastised herself. There was a time back when Fitz was still president and she was his 'fixer' when her worrying about family portraits would have seemed ludicrous in relation to the scandals that had been the staple of their everyday lives back then.

With that thought, Olivia felt herself relaxing for the first time in the last hour, as she put her worries into perspective.

Here she was married to the man of her dreams, with a beautiful baby daughter and another baby on the way. And of course, there was also seven year old Teddy whom she considered her son in every way that mattered.

"Liv, Liv, look !" Teddy (dressed in a white dress shirt, dark green vest) brought over his Nabi tablet which had been an early Christmas present from Fitz. He was so excited, showing Olivia various things on the device.

The ghost of Christmas past suddenly reared it's head reminding her that just last Christmas Teddy had a major meltdown, refusing to participate in the photo session. In the end, after much convincing, Teddy finally cooperated...except that in all the pictures he appeared crossing his arms and pouting.

Olivia said a silent prayer. _Oh, God, let it be different this time._ "That's great, Teddy...now...how about you show me a little later," she spoke in a gentle tone, casting a glance at Fitz who nodded his head in approval.

The photographers, a man and a woman approached Olivia and introduced themselves.

Thankfully, little Teddy took it all in stride and sat back down on the couch near his dad, his eyes glued on his Nabi.

Meanwhile, Fitz couldn't take his eyes off Olivia. She looked absolutely stunning. Her baby bump barely showed yet she was convinced she was as huge as whale. Personally, Fitz believed that she never looked more beautiful than when she was expecting.

Before long, the photographers were discussing things like background colors and lighting.

"Why don't we try a black background for dramatic effect...and then a white background?" Olivia tapped her chin, cocked her head as she considered all the details involved. "And then, could we also try a casual portrait with all of us sitting in front of the fireplace."

"That would definitely give us a casual look," one of the photographers stated approvingly.

"Yes, yes," Olivia's eyes darted to Fitz who was now bouncing little Isabella on his lap who squealed in delight.

"This all sounds great," Fitz said somewhat dismissively, a bit impatient to get on with the program. "I would say happy Bella will last for another ten minutes at the most."

With a smile, Olivia crossed the distance between them and took the child into her loving arms.

Isabella, dressed in a matching outfit (the latest craze nowadays was mothers and daughters wearing identical outfits), instantly molded her body to her mother's. She was drop dead gorgeous: she had her father's blue eyes, creamy olive skin and dark hair just like her mother's.

"How about we start with us sitting together on the couch?" Olivia asked the photographers while exchanging a wink and a smile with Fitz that clearly said even though they had company they were pretty well connected and aware of each other at all times.

Immediately, the photographers got down to business. They wanted Teddy to sit by Olivia and Fitz to hold little Isabella on his lap for a formal portrait look. Although once they moved over to the floor rug for the second half of the portrait session, the idea was for the photographers to take a series of candid shots of the first family; just being themselves, having fun and and connecting with one another.

The first half of the session went well. However, Knock knock jokes had a short lived appeal and similarly, the funny voices and faces designed to get the baby to smile worked only for so long considering that the photographers planned on taking hundreds of snapshots.

As Fitz had predicted, Isabella's fussiness turned into an outright crying fit during the second half of the session. Olivia was already considering cutting the session short as nothing seemed to console the child.

But then, when all seemed lost, Fitz produced from his pocket a tiny rubber duck and made it squeak. Isabella stopped fussing and was instantly delighted. Funny how young children's emotions can change as fast the flick of a light switch.

Further, the child's smiles turned into squeals as Fitz continued playing 'hide and seek', alternating between squeaking the rubber duck, and then hiding it behind his back...surprising her every time.

After the photography session was over, the children's nanny took them for a much deserved break and a snack.

Jamie, the female photographer, couldn't help but notice how all body cues pointed to Fitz and Olivia as a solid couple. For one, they sat next to each other, with their hands intertwined. _Her_ feet and body were angled toward him and _his_ body was subtly shifted towards her which spoke volumes of the powerful connection between them.

Perhaps what impressed her the most were their broad relaxed smiles which suggested that they cared for each other very deeply.

Soon enough, Jamie's colleague proceeded to run a slide show of the photos taken during the photography session on a flat screen TV.

"I think we should definitely have _that_ be our holiday greeting card this year," Fitz smiled proudly, referring to that one photograph with little Isabella clapping her hands excitedly sporting a huge smile while her parents and big brother looked on, their love and devotion shinning through in the most perfect Kodak moment.

Much to her surprise, Olivia discovered that the pictures she liked best were not the ones where they posed for the camera with their heads just tilted to the right angles (per photographer's directions) and looking directly at the camera with doctored smiles, but rather the candid ones taken by the fireplace... the ones that portrayed them as a happy family...those were definitely the best.

"Oh, yes," she readily agreed.

Yes, that was the picture that perfectly captured the most genuine portrait of America's first family.

**_A/N:_**

_Reviews are like flowers, they're always welcomed and they always bring a smile :)_

_Thank you_


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